Districts in Mizoram should be Tribal Autonomous District Council, says Lalmuanpuia Punte

Aizawl: Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) Youth president Pu Lalmuanpuia Punte said that in order to protect Mizoram as a “tribal area”, efforts must be made to declare every district in the state as an Autonomous District Council (ADC) under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Pu Punte said this during the Hmar Martyrs’ Day event at Vairengte on May 16.

Gracing the remembrance event for the fallen Hmar Peoples’ Convention martyrs as Chief Guest, Pu Punte said: “The demand for an Autonomous District Council (ADC) is not an attempt to divide Mizoram. In fact, there are already LADC, MADC and CADC which are protected as tribal areas, and there is an urgent need for every part of Mizoram to be protected through the ADC way.”

The youth leader also said that if ZNP is in a position to form a government next year, efforts will be made to grant ADC status to all tribal areas in the state.

Pu Punte also said that the erstwhile “HPC leaders were never communal” and they showed it with action when they accepted the term Sinlung (Chhinlung) as a nomenclature for the Sinlung Hills Development Council in 1994.

“The HPC demanded an ADC for the Hmars by taking up arms. But, in July 1994 as talks progressed with the Mizoram government, they agreed to sacrifice their cause for the sake of Mizo unity when they accepted Chhinlung/Sinlung (considered as the origin of Zo tribes) for the new Sinlung Hills Development Council. That clearly shows Hmars were not communal. It is noteworthy that they are always ready to make supreme sacrifices when it comes to Mizo cause… a really great thing to do! And it was agreed by both sides in the 1994 peace agreement that Mizoram government would make efforts to upgrade SHDC area into a Sixth Schedule area.”